New owner: No immediate changes for former Jordan's Meats plant

PORTLAND — The new owner of the former Jordan’s Meats plant in the city’s Eastern Waterfront says there are no immediate plans for redevelopment of the property.

Mark Woglom, president of Opechee Construction of Belmont, N.H., formed Old Port Hospitality LLC with his partner, Greg Kirsch. They closed Monday on the purchase of the 1.75 acre property.

Woglom is no stranger to development in greater Portland. His company built the AAA office building on Marginal Way and more recently the Comfort Inn in Scarborough and the Holiday Inn Express in Freeport.

“We became familiar with the (Jordan’s) property by being familiar with the Portland market,” Woglom said Tuesday.

The former hot dog factory has been vacant since it closed in February 2005. It was purchased that year by The Procaccianti Group of Cranston, R.I. In December 2005 the developer won approval from the city for a conditional rezoning so it could build a high-end Westin Hotel and luxury condominiums.

That project never happened. Procaccianti in 2007 considered building an extended-stay hotel and office building instead, but then put the property on the market. It was listed for $4.75 million by broker Greg Boulos of CBRE/The Boulos Co.

Woglom, who has had the property under contract since last November, would not disclose the purchase price this week. On Jan. 12, the Portland Planning Board granted a request from Procaccianti to return the property to the downtown business zone.

Located in the block between Franklin, India, Middle and Fore streets, the vacant factory has generated concern from neighbors, who have called it an eyesore and a magnet for homeless people.

The building’s parking lot is leased to downtown workers, and Woglom said that for now that use will continue.

“We bought it as an investment property,” he said. “We have ideas and things in the works.”